The Stowaway
by Emmylou
Summary: The Doctor crashes into the Titanic in time to find the whole ship under a Mummy’s curse, and a waitress with a message about Rose. My version of Voyage of the Damned. TenRose.
1. Astrid Meets the Doctor

**Title:** The Stowaway

**Rating:** PG-13

**Spoilers:** "The Stowaway" from the Doctor Who album, general rumours about the episode and series 4, The Parting of Ways, Doomsday. Basically nothing you don't know already or can't discount as untrue.

**Ships:** Ten/Rose

**Summary:** The Doctor crashes into the Titanic in time to find the whole ship under a Mummy's curse, and a waitress with a message from Rose.

**A/N:** I'm not a Titanic buff, so some things are guessed at here, however I did learn a few things during research, the Titanic _was_ classed as a mail ship (hence the RMS), and the legend about the Princess of Amun-Ra being on board is an urban myth. As for the Stowaway stuff – this is an idea I had while on my 30th listening of the track. It's a case of wishing the following to be true rather than expecting it. However, if we all wish hard enough…

"He said '_Borrow or steal, __I'll find a way _

_To be with my lover, n__ext Christmas day,_

_I'll wander and roam, __I'll cover the ground,_

_Next Christmas you'll see me, __I'll be around_.'" – The Stowaway

* * *

Damn seasickness…

Astrid gripped the rails and tried to breathe shallowly to make the nausea disappear. She was up near the front of the deck and it was already quite cold and dark for an April night, but after the hot dining room the chill was refreshing.

The deck was quiet as people had gone inside for dinner, normally Astrid would be serving but after fainting she had been ordered outside for fresh air. Only the few people who weren't hungry or worked on board were about.

Of course, it didn't always feel like seasickness. Some nights she would wake up feverish, unable to breathe, and her friend Annie would have to cool her face with a cloth – but by morning she was always well again.

There was suddenly a loud thud and a blue box hit the front of the ship as though it had been travelling at a hundred miles an hour. Astrid was thrown backwards onto the deck, when she picked herself up she couldn't believe she had missed it – it must have been travelling at a hundred miles an hour to hit that hard.

She crept forward for a better look. Usually if anyone broke a nail up on deck a hundred people came running, but it seemed as though she was the only one to have seen or heard.

When she saw it she was surprised. It was tiny compared with the head of the ship. Why didn't it fall off? And how had it got there at all?

And it said Police Box…

She felt the sickness overwhelm her again and she raced for the rails. The words meant nothing to her, she had never even seen the box before, but something about it made some emotion – it felt strangely like excitement – well up inside of her. It was like wanting something so badly that it hurt, and it was so strong she was going to be sick. She retched helplessly.

"Are you alright?"

Astrid lifted her blonde hair out of her eyes and looked back at the box. A man was looking at her from inside.

Impossible. She would have heard anyone come over, and to go inside would be impossibly foolish. Unless he'd been in the box all along…how could he have survived a crash like that in such a tiny vessel?

"Hello?" she croaked.

The man was young and thin and within seconds he'd hopped over the railing that was sticking into the box and come over, talking a mile a minute.

"Seasick is it? Nasty. Can't say I like boats that much. Except canal boats of course," he added. "You can have a lot of fun on a canal boat. And there's always the option of stopping for cream tea which is a bonus you don't always get out at sea. Tell me," he said suddenly, as though he were asking her if she happened to have the time, "this boat isn't the _Titanic _is it?

He held up one of the life rings.

Astrid had been watching him in incomprehension but this was finally something he said that she understood. "Yes."

"Are you sure about that? Absolutely, positively sure? I mean – if it came down to you knowing for a fact that water is wet and knowing for sure that this boat (the one we're on right now) is the Titanic, you would be less sure about the water being wet?" He peered down at her looking ever so serious.

Astrid wondered whether it was all a joke, but she nodded. "This is the Titanic."

The man frowned and thrust his hands into his pockets, he leaned back against the railings and drank the view of the ship in. "That's impossible," he said in a wondrous tone.

He looked at her again. "You're _sure_?"

"Yes," said Astrid.

"_Really sure_?"

"Yes."

"This isn't some joke is it?" he asked, echoing her own feelings precisely. "You didn't just have a novelty Titanic life ring lying about and decided just to throw it in to confuse me?"

"A novelty Titanic…" she began, utterly lost. She scowled; annoyed that he was standing here acting as though _she_ was somehow the mad person. "Just who are you?" she demanded. "I ought to go and get the Captain!"

"Me? I'm just…" he looked back at his destroyed box, "…passing by."

The man whipped out a strange glowing stick from his pocket and began waving it about at the blue box. Astrid felt something strange – a glowing within her, a warmth.

"Doctor…" she whispered.

"Hmm?" he turned around. "_What's_ your name again?" he added.

"Astrid," said Astrid. "Astrid Peth."

The man turned and shook her hand as though he was truly fascinated to meet a waitress called Astrid Peth who was feeling seasick.

"Nice to meet you Astrid Peth, I'm the-" he paused, eyebrows furrowing. "Wait a minute – how did you know who I am?"

"I don't," said Astrid honestly.

"Yes you do. You just called me the Doctor. The Doctor being me. Me. The Doctor," he added unnecessarily.

"I didn't," she lied. She really didn't want to think how she might have known his title anyway.

"You did."

"I did not!"

"Did!"

"Didn't!"

"And d'you know what else is strange?" said the Doctor. "Five minutes ago my ship crashed into the front of this ship and so far no one's noticed."

He looked about at the empty deck and then back at the blue box. "I thought when we crashed that it might have been the reason…but the TARDIS didn't do any damage at all. This ship is fine. It's better than fine. It's _A-OK_. What day is it?" he added.

"April the twelfth," said Astrid.

"What time?" said the Doctor. He leant over the rails as though looking for something.

"Around half past eight, why?"

"Hmm," said the Doctor. "We've got a couple of hours left yet."

"We?"

"Everyone," he looked about him again. "Why isn't anybody coming?" Is no one interested in me? How rude."

"You there!" bellowed a voice that was unmistakeably Captain Smith.

"Oh!" the Doctor beamed. "There's somebody after all." He thrust his hands into his pockets and stood bouncing on his heels.

The captain was a tall, thin man in his sixties with a white hair and beard. He strode towards them all alone, which surprised Astrid, who had only seen him surrounded by a gaggle of important people (although admittedly this was mostly at mealtimes). He looked strangely vulnerable out here without anyone with him, but his voice – which Astrid had never heard at less than shouting level- remained unchanged.

"What is the meaning of this?" demanded the Captain.

"Ah," said the Doctor, who didn't look particularly concerned to have such a man bearing down upon him. "Well that's the question isn't it? I mean bit hard to tell which party's to blame really – and it's not like there's any damage to your lovely ship. So I say if you organise a couple of blokes to move my box onto the deck, I'll set it to heal itself, then we can get inside out of the weather and swap insurance details."

What amazed Astrid was the man's totally unconcerned air, as though it was all some silly misunderstanding instead of utter impossibility.

"I _asked _what was going on!" roared the Captain.

"Well don't look at me," said the Doctor. "It was an accident really…" he looked back at the blue ship, "…or not…I can't think why she'd…"

"Right, enough games, come with me," said the Captain. He pulled out a gun and pointed it at the Doctor.

"Now that's quite enough of that," said the Doctor, who looked perfectly in control for a man having a gun pointed at him. His eyes flickered to the gun only briefly before boring into the Captain. "Now what's going to happen is that we – that is the three of us – are all going to go and have a cup of tea and discuss this like reasonable captains, waitresses and doctors. _I'll_ tell you why a blue box has crashed into your ship._ Astrid _here can explain how she knows me, and _you_ Captain, can explain why you're pointing a gun that won't be available for another two hundred years."

He leaned in, not seeming to care that the barrel was closer to his face than before, and stared into the Captain's face, reading his eyes, his mouth in a grim line.

It was like watching a lion tamer at work without a whip or a chair. The Captain lowered the gun and put it away with bad grace.

"What's she got to do with this?" demanded the Captain.

"You're good at demanding things aren't you?" the Doctor commented, all ease and charm again. "Very good demanding tone right there. If I could do a voice like that I'd never stop demanding things. '_You _– stop that!', '_You_ - leave this planet alone'. This voice isn't as good at demanding though," he said seriously.

The captain didn't look impressed, but he did look baffled. "Tea," he said gruffly. "Right."

He led them through the ship into a wonderfully decorated cabin that was quite heavenly to Astrid, who had seen little else in the ship than the kitchens, dining room, and her own sparse quarters. There was a thick blue carpet that you practically had to wade through and soft gold trimmed armchairs around a highly polished low table. A chandelier hung down from the ceiling and the room was lined with bookcases.

"Lovely!" said the Doctor. He dropped into an armchair, stretched his legs out in front of him and rested his arms behind his head.

The Captain sat much more awkwardly in a matching armchair, leaning forward. His trousers rode up so you could see his socks. Astrid chose the last chair and sunk into in sheepishly.

Astrid sat and stared at her lap. It was only after several minutes of silence that she looked up to find the Captain staring at her impatiently. "You girl – we're waiting," barked the Captain. "Tea!"

Astrid jumped to her feet. How could she have got it so wrong? "Sorry Sir!"

"Sit down Astrid," said the Doctor calmly. Astrid sunk down instantly. It hadn't been said in the same tone of voice but it was one just as certain that the orders would be followed.

"I _thought _you said tea," said the Captain through gritted teeth.

"I said tea for three. Astrid wasn't feeling too well and she isn't the only waitress around surely. So go ring a bell or something and order some for us all." The Doctor winked at her.

The Captain obeyed, stepping out, and returning a few seconds later. Astrid stared with wonder and the man who could make the Captain jump up so effectively.

Nothing was said until a pot of tea, three cups, and selection of cakes that had met the Doctor's approval very well, was in front of them.

"Very civilised," he said, stirring in his sugar.

"I need to discuss that ship," said the Captain impatiently.

The Doctor looked curiously at the Captain. "This is very strange. Everyone knows more than they should. She knows I'm the Doctor- you know about space ships and guns. Was there something in the horoscopes this morning that I missed?"

"What's a horoscope?" asked Astrid.

The doctor waved a hand dismissively and frowned to himself. "I really should start keeping my jokes century appropriate. Might get a few laughs that way. Anyway, so – my ship?"

He smiled at the captain, all ears,

"This isn't something that should be discussed here," said the Captain, and Astrid was embarrassed to feel his eyes flicker to her. She stumbled to her feet.

"Thank you for the tea," she mumbled. "But I'll go now…"

"Sit down Astrid," commanded the doctor again.

Astrid sat.

"Now there's nothing here that can't be said in front of my mate Astrid here," said the Doctor with a wink at her.

"That…ship…" said the Captain. "It's from the future isn't it?"

Astrid felt her eyes swivel to the Doctor. Were it not for the blue box and the strange glowing stick he'd had that had so effectively soothed her, she would have thought the Captain ill in the head to take such a strange man seriously.

The Doctor did look slightly futuristic, she supposed. The strange shoes he wore on his feet- the odd haircut.

"Got it in one!" said the Doctor, delighted. "Just passing through. My space ship out there had a bit of an accident – one minute she's fine, the next we're here. Bit embarrassing really. But there you are. My ship'll take about forty minutes to heal which is pushing it a bit, but she understands the need to get out here sharp-ish."

"Yes," said the Captain imploringly. "You must be gone by eleven. Are you aware of the events about to take place?"

The Doctor's face froze. "I beg your pardon?"

"Tonight. Are you aware of the events?"

"Well _I'm_ aware", said the baffled Doctor "but how are you?"

"Aware of what?" asked Astrid who had been looking from one to the other and not really understanding either.

The two of them suddenly looked a bit embarrassed to have her sitting there. Astrid stood up. "I'll just-"

"Sit down," said the Doctor. He wrinkled his nose at her and asked; "Are you on a spring or something?"

Astrid shook her head.

The Doctor rubbed his hands together. "Now let's all get each other up to speed shall we," he said. "I'm an alien from the future. The blue box that crashed was a space ship – my space ship – called the TARDIS. I don't know how we ended up here. That's my story, what about yours?"

The Doctor pinned the Captain with a freezing stare.

"Time Agency," said the Captain eventually. "I'm near retirement now, of course, but this is a fairly routine job. It's the tourism you see – aliens and time travellers pop-up left right and centre to come and gawk. I relive the same night over and over, and when they pop up I send them straight back home and wipe any memories or traces of them left. It's a nightmare – I must see ten love struck couples pretending they are Jack and Rose a week."

_Rose…_

_Rose…_

_Rose…_

Astrid shut her eyes to drown out the echo in her head and forced herself to listen to the captain. She took a sip of tea that made her stomach churn. The sickness had eased off a little in the excitement but here it was again.

The Doctor was looking confused. "How do you remove the multiples? There should be_ hundreds_ of you running around – you can't travel back in time to somewhere you've been and relive the same moment…it's a paradox!"

The captain smiled and tapped his nose. "Time Agency trick."

"Believe me – I know all the tricks in the book," said the Doctor seriously. "You Time Agency lot have barely had a…peek at the glossary."

"Maybe we're more advanced than you think," said the Captain with a carefully neutral face.

"Maybe!" said the Doctor with a bright and utterly false smile.

He then turned and focused on Astrid who was nearly pinned in her chair by the weight of the gaze.

"And then there's _you_," he said. "How did you know who I was?"

His gaze had switched to one so distrustful, so suspicious, that Astrid squirmed despite her innocence. "I didn't know! Honestly! I just – I saw that stick - and I heard the word '_Doctor_' in my head. Like a whisper…"

The Doctor was still looking at her; his eyes didn't even leave hers while he reached for a piece of Victoria Sponge.

"V'ry int'restin'" he said around the cake. He swallowed, knocked back some tea, and spoke again. "This thing happen a lot to you – knowing this are going to happen before they happen?"

Astrid shook her head. "Never."

"Hmm…" said the Doctor. "Doubly interesting."

"But you don't understand!" the Captain cut in. "I'm trying to tell you. Something is seriously wrong!"

"Wrong?"

"Look," the Captain took a deep breath. "I've lived this night every night for over a year – I know how it goes. I know every scream, every person, rich, poor, maids, labourers, _everyone_. I know what happens to them all and I know how the hours leading up to it go."

Astrid stared in horror and tries to take it in. The Captain said that he lived this night over and over to stop tourists (she didn't quite understand how) and…well she wasn't stupid. There was only one thing that could be so important – a disaster, a shipwreck. Suddenly the floor beneath her feet felt far less sturdy. Would she die? What would happen to her?

The room swam and she slumped onto the table.

* * *

A/N: I know, this doesn't relate to the song too much yet, but it will soon! I'd love to hear your opinions. 


	2. Astrid Hears the Voice

**Title:** The Stowaway

**Rating:** PG-13

**Spoilers:** "The Stowaway" from the Doctor Who album, general rumours about the episode and series 4, The Parting of Ways, Doomsday. Basically nothing you don't know already or can't discount as untrue.

**Ships:** Ten/Rose

**Summary:** The Doctor crashes into the Titanic in time to find the whole ship under a Mummy's curse, and a waitress with a message about Rose.

**A/N:** Thanks for all the great reviews. I hope I've done the next chapter justice!

* * *

When she woke, the Doctor was close up to her face and staring her in the eyes. His hands were holding her head, fingers splayed.

"There we go…" he said.

And suddenly there were words inside her head. One voice, but so soft that the words couldn't be made out. Just a murmur - and where he had touched her there was a great wave of warmth.

"Can we get back to business?" said the Captain once Astrid had got a hold of herself.

"I'm sorry," she said. "This is – this is all a bit of a shock." She had no real explanation to give.

She gave a weak smile and the Doctor's returned one was no more convincing. Just looking at him now made the voice in her head flutter with pleasure.

"Anyway," said the Captain impatiently. "Something is different about tonight. Can't you feel it?"

The Doctor frowned. "Feel what?"

"Feel the attitude? It's…_peaceful_," said the Captain eventually.

The Doctor resumed his casual posture, legs out, arms back. "Well no one knows what's about to happen-" he began reasonably.

"More peaceful than usual!" snapped the Captain. "Normally there are two fights below decks tonight. Not to mention one of the waitresses running out of the dining room in hysterics because of a lover's tiff. None of it has happened tonight. The four brawlers are currently playing cards quite calmly, and the waitress and her young man are still loved-up and planning to elope."

"Is it Mary and Ted?" Astrid couldn't help but ask. The voice just beyond her hearing faded as she looked at the Captain- who ignored her.

"There is also a…guest on board who wasn't on board before," said Captain Smith perplexedly. "I know_ everyone_ that should be here and I've never laid eyes on her. Normally I'd have her brought in here and dealt with her, but she has an official ticket. She works for the British Museum - and she's travelling with something important."

"What is it?" asked the Doctor, clearly fascinated.

"It's a Mummy."

---

Ten minutes later the Doctor was striding purposefully down a corridor. Astrid was trotting along behind him on the thick red carpet and feeling strangely rested. The voice was just soft, happy whispers in the back of her mind now.

The Doctor hadn't been surprised at the Captain's story (although she certainly had been). And he'd acted as if sorting out these problems was practically his job – he'd told the Captain that he was an expert in matters like this and if the Captain would arrange for the blue box to be brought up on deck to fix itself, the Doctor would have it sorted in under an hour.

Right now he was talking at full pace too. "Right, so we go down to the mailroom, check out the Mummy. Then we'll go up to the dining room, have a look around and you can help me figure out which woman hasn't been there before. We'll find out why everyone is so happy, then its home in time for tea."

"Except for me," cut in Astrid. He knew, and she needed to be certain. "There's going to be a shipwreck, isn't there? I'll drown."

She stopped and stood staring after him. He froze and turned back to her, his eyes were filled with sorrow.

"No," he said. "You won't."

Astrid felt her heart swell. "I'll see America?"

The Doctor didn't smile, and when he spoke his voice was thick. "The seasickness didn't start on board, did it?" he stated. "It started before that, but only got worse recently. The fevers are more frequent – your friend sits up nursing you most nights. How often do you faint now? Twice a day? More?"

"I've always been sickly," said Astrid.

"You're hiding something from me," said the Doctor softly. "It's in your head. It's killing you. But somehow you're hiding it."

Astrid didn't want to listen, didn't want to look at his bleak expression. "It's just a – a voice. I'm not hiding anything. How can it be killing me?"

The Doctor stepped closer until he was grasping her shoulders and looking down into her eyes. "Let me help you. Let me look into your mind. What's happening to you isn't natural…I can stop it."

"You may be a Doctor, but you haven't even examined me," she said.

She shrugged his hands off and brushed past him to towards the stairs which would lead them out of the finery and into the cargo area.

"_Listen_ to me Astrid," the Doctor called after her. "I've given you two hours. Two hours you shouldn't have. You are literally on borrowed time."

Astrid turned to face him incredulously. "What do you mean, two more hours?" She rolled her eyes. "I'm fine. Look at me."

"You didn't faint," said the Doctor.

"I did."

"You didn't."

"I-"

The Doctor held up his hand. "Blimey you're good at arguing. You _didn't_. You passed out – you slipped into a coma. No medicine in the world could have woken you up again. You would have just slipped further into it and died."

"And you, _great Doctor_, you saved me?" she asked cynically.

He shook his head. "No. I looked inside your mind; I found the trigger to wake you up. But you'll die in two hours unless you let me help you. _Please_. There's something hiding in you that shouldn't be there. Come with me to my ship. I'll figure out how to stop it…"

Astrid didn't know what to say. How could there be an alien inside her head? There was just a voice, and it sounded all alone. But when she looked at the Doctor it turned into a soft happy rush of intelligible words. It felt wonderful, and the thought of facing the darkness without its warmth – even in a hundred years and after a well lived life – was unbearable.

"Do you know when I feel this…thing in my head, Doctor?" she smiled wanly. "It's when I look at you. It's like this _love _washing over me and I can hear something whispering your name" She paused, and then spoke slowly as if collecting her thoughts. "So it seems to me that I can die in your arms peacefully - or you'll take it away and just I'll be a normal girl drowning all alone in the Atlantic. Either way, it will happen tonight."

The Doctor stepped closer and peered into her eyes, almost begging. "I won't let you drown. I'll take you with me."

"But the voice will be gone," she whispered. "And then I'll just be a normal girl. I couldn't handle your life."

"You wouldn't be the first normal girl I'd taken with me," he said desperately.

Astrid shook her head and sighed. "No Doctor, I'm not good enough. You only take the best, remember?"

The Doctor reeled back. "What? What did you say?"

"It was just silliness" she said, although she had no idea how to describe the way the words had slipped out all by themselves. "It seemed to make sense when I said it."

The Doctor looked suddenly desperate, as though he wanted to shake her and demand answers. But he cleared his throat and stepped away. "Let's find the mailroom, shall we?"

He turned and started striding along the corridor again, when they came to the spiral staircase he sprinted down them as though they were being chased.

"So when did you first hear this voice in your head?" called the Doctor as he swung around onto the next flight.

"I only heard it once before tonight," she answered, panting with effort and fighting nausea at the running. "I used to work in a café. This woman just collapsed at her table and I heard it then."

"What did it say?"

"It said '_help me'_. I thought it was her, at first, but it felt like it was coming from inside my head."

"What happened to the woman?" asked the Doctor.

Astrid shrugged. "The people she was with took her for help. I never found out what happened to her."

"Hmm…pity," said the Doctor. He jumped the last to steps and started off down the corridor.

It was darker down here, uncarpeted, and clearly not for public use.

Astrid wasn't entirely sure where the mailroom was, except that it was near the cargo. After three minutes of fruitless searching, the Doctor stopped a passing labourer, flashed a blank piece of paper at him, and demanded to know where the room was.

"Good bit of demanding that," he said when they finally found it.

Seconds later he'd dived amongst the bags and crates, his little blue light was being waved around again and he stopped to point it at boxes occasionally. He seemed entirely unconcerned as to what she did.

Astrid had been expecting that sorrowful look again, the hushed voice, but it was as if he'd forgotten the conversation they'd just had. He hadn't even asked her how she was feeling.

"How are you feeling?" he asked suddenly.

Well…

"About the - ?" she waved awkwardly at her head.

He shrugged. "About anything. The time of day? The state of the trains? Are you pleased that Lee won _Any Dream Will Do_? Oh wait – must remember the century appropriateness."

Astrid had to actually think about how she felt right now. She had felt resolved upstairs, nervous but determined. Now she felt almost…happy.

"I feel fine," she said, slightly surprised herself.

"Now be honest," he pointed at her. "Nothing big preying on your mind? Certain conversations we've been having?"

She shrugged. "I feel fine."

"Hmm…" said the Doctor. He waved the stick around a bit more. "I think we're close."

He pulled a long rectangular crate towards him and prised it open. Seconds later it was raining straw as he pulled out the padding.

Astrid tiptoed forwards and felt a calmness washing over her again. Inside was a sarcophagus carved into the shape of a woman. It was old and faded, but it had once been brightly coloured, she could tell.

Her eyes closed at the wonderful happy feeling that seemed to be resonating from it.

"It's not authentic Egyptian – I'll tell you that," said the Doctor. "I've seen better school history projects. And d'you see what its doing?" the Doctor breathed. He was looking at a strange ruby like bead on its headdress that was somehow flashing. "It's sending out a – a sort of psychic dampener that tells your brain that everything is fine and not to get upset or alarmed. It's affecting everyone on board."

"I was upset and alarmed upstairs," pointed out Astrid.

"That thing in your head – it's somehow blocking it out until you're too close to resist," said the Doctor. "And it wouldn't affect me anyway – nor anyone that's out of time like Captain Smith. What's_ in_ here anyway?"

He pulled some glasses out of his pocket (the voice in her head murmured happily again) and peered at the sarcophagus, as if looking for a way to open it. After much messing around with the blue light he suddenly looked triumphant.

"Ah-ha! I know what _you're_ about." He looked up from it to grin at Astrid. "It's a bomb!"

Astrid didn't quite share his joy at this. "When will it explode?"

The Doctor frowned. "Thirty minutes. It's, what, nine now? Let's look at what we're dealing with here..." He went back to work and a second later there was a creak as the casket opened.

Astrid was half expecting a frightening dried Mummy to be inside, or at least a keg of gunpowder. Instead there were…

…beetles.

The Doctor's reaction was instant. He slammed the lid back down and there was a terrific buzzing sound. The whole thing shook violently as if the beetles were trying to get out. He pressed his whole weight on it to keep it closed, all the while waving the stick at it frantically.

Finally the thing seemed to seal, and the Doctor fell away from the still crate.

"That_ is_ interesting," said the Doctor in the same tone one would puzzle over the answer to four down in the Telegraph. He began analysing the outside. "They were Wrecking Beetles. And they're a_ long _way from home."

"What are they?" she asked.

The Doctor waved his hands as he explained; "Basically they're like an alien version of a wrecking ball. They eat metal – they can eat through the supports of a building in just a few minutes and it just collapses. They don't eat anything else, which is why they are stored in wood."

"What are they doing _here_?"

"Someone wants them to eat the biggest metal thing around – which is what we're standing on," he said, half to himself.

"This is how the Titanic sinks?" she said. "Beetles? I was expecting another boat or – or a sudden tidal wave. But beetles?"

The Doctor frowned to himself. "It doesn't make sense. The Titanic was hit by an iceberg at 11.02 pm. It's a fact, a one hundred percent _fact_. If these beetles get out, this boat will be long gone by the time it should hit the iceberg. Whatever it is we have to stop it, it can't happen- it'll change history in unimaginable ways. It certainly won't do Kate Winslet's career any good."

Astrid didn't even bother to ask. "That probably wasn't century appropriate," she said. She looked back at the blinking ruby. "But what about that signal thing? Why would it tell everyone to be happy? Why would it matter?"

The Doctor kneeled back down to wave the stick at the sarcophagus again. "You're right. It doesn't make sense. This signal takes power and it's not easy to create. Especially in the era that Wrecking Beetles are widely used. If someone's taken the trouble to create it, it's going to have a purpose…"

"Ow!"

Something had bitten her! It was much harder and sharper than a simple bug, and (she realised with horror) it was still attached to the back of her knee. She could feel it squirming.

"Something bit me! Get it off!" she shrieked. Oh god, it was gnawing her!

The Doctor dived forward to where she was spinning around trying to get at it.

"Here – hold this!" he tossed the stick at her and grabbed the back of her leg, clamping his hands around whatever it was. It felt as heavy as a rat and she felt the sting as the Doctor pulled it away.

He held it up. It was a struggling escaped beetle.

"Point it at it and push the bit on the side," the Doctor ordered. It took Astrid a second to realise he meant her, and she fumbled with the stick. When she pushed the bit on side it hummed and the beetle went still in his hands.

"That's impossible," said the Doctor. "Doubly, triply, impossible."

"I thought you said they only ate metal," said Astrid reproachfully, rubbing her leg. "You could have said. I_ hate _insects."

"They do only eat metal," the Doctor breathed. He ran his hands threw his hair. "Someone's changed their biology to crave…humanity. That's why it didn't try to bite me - I'm not human. But it looked at you and thought it was dinner time."

"So when that that box opens in thirty minutes…" began Astrid, who suddenly felt very sick.

The Doctor looked levelly at her. "Then every person on board is going to be become a late night snack," he said. "And what's more they won't even panic – because that signal is telling them that it's all okay and not to worry."

Despite the doom-laden scenario, Astrid couldn't help but feel a little bitter. If she had to die tonight, she would. But she'd settled on it being either drowning or…this thing in her head burning her up. Bugs were never mentioned. If she'd had to pick one way to die, being eaten by bugs was the very, very last resort.

Despite that she could almost feel the waves of support coming from the casket. It was like it was telling her that it was alright and that it didn't really matter. She had to fight to think straight again.

"Is there no way to use that stick to stop it?" she asked hopefully. "It stopped the beetle."

"It stunned one – it won't work on them all at once," said the Doctor. He nevertheless gave the casket one last going over with the stick though. "_Hello_…there's something else there as well. It's patched on like a hidden message."

"The killer left a message?" she came closer, as though she had the slightest clue what she was looking for. It was hardly going to be written on the casket.

"No," said the Doctor. "Something else did. It's_ latched_ onto it. Let's see if I can make it a little louder…"

The funny sound the stick made changed in tone just a little and suddenly there was a voice coming from the sarcophagus.

_Doctor...Doctor…Doctor…Doctor… Doctor...Doctor…Doctor…Doctor…_

Even the calmness coming in waves from the casket couldn't stop the jolt in Astrid's stomach. It was the voice. The voice in her head that had spoken!

She was about to tell the Doctor this, when she saw his expression. It was as close to ashen as she had ever seen anyone's.

"Rose," he whispered.

* * *

A/N: I feel a bit evil now, I must admit. But I think you'll like the answers when you get them. I had some major difficulty with Astrid and the bloody voice in her head this chapter – I hope it made sense. Please tell me what you think!

Next chapter we enter an emotional minefield…


	3. Astrid Dances with the Doctor

**Title:** The Stowaway

**Rating:** PG-13

**Spoilers:** "The Stowaway" from the Doctor Who album, general rumours about the episode and series 4, The Parting of Ways, Doomsday. Basically nothing you don't know already or can't discount as untrue.

**Ships:** Ten/Rose

**Summary:** The Doctor crashes into the Titanic in time to find the whole ship under a Mummy's curse, and a waitress with a message about Rose.

**A/N:** Thanks for every great comment so far. I do reply to reviews, so if you want to ask anything or want to talk about the story, please review.

* * *

**Astrid Dances with the Doctor**

_"He told me 'bout his girl back home  
Waiting patient, all alone  
While we danced I shed a little tear  
He closed his eyes, all out at sea,  
I think he danced with her not me  
I'll just have to wait another year."_ – The Stowaway

"Now I don't know about you," said the Doctor, "But I'm very interested in meeting this mysterious woman and asking her why, exactly, she has a flesh eating bomb on board."

He stood up sharply, and with a flick of his wrist he lowered the sound coming from the casket again. He turned and strode out of the mailroom, coat billowing, and Astrid trotting after him.

"But you said that voice didn't come from the thing that bought it on board," she said. "Doctor – whose voice was that?" he didn't reply, but she had to tell him. "Doctor, that's the voice in my _head_!"

He didn't as much as look back at her. "I can't think about that right now," he said. His voice sounded odd, as though he had to think about every syllable.

It was a struggle to keep up, she was weak, and the voice in her head was louder and more excited than ever, even though the words made no sense.

"Why not? You knew her, you-"

"What I know doesn't make any sense right now," he said firmly. "It doesn't tell us anything about the stranger on board. It doesn't explain why you can hear a voice whenever you look at me, or why it's killing your body. I don't have the answers."

From what Astrid had seen, the Doctor was not a man who didn't have answers, and the ones he didn't have he found pretty quickly.

"You must know-"

"I don't!" the Doctor yelled. He spun to face her and he looked truly frightening. "For once I am- quite literally -out at sea!"

He held his arms out from his sides angrily, as if telling the whole universe that it was not his fault. "You're the one with the voices in your head – you tell ME why Rose's voice is calling me across time and space. You tell ME why it's in your mind."

Astrid said nothing, she just stood watching and waiting for him to make the next move. His arms drooped back down to his sides and off he went again. She followed, but not at such a frantic pace.

"Now, where can I find a dinner jacket?" he said.

"Well, that's one answer I do have," she said in a small voice that she struggled to keep from sounding reproachful. She turned along a corridor to the left, and after several minutes of winding through the badly lit walkways, they entered the laundry.

The girls in there knew her and had no problem at all getting this strange handsome man set up with a black suit, tie, and trousers. They even offered to find him some shoes, but he wouldn't give up the white ones. Astrid normally wouldn't have liked the idea of using someone's suit, but she supposed that it would hardly be missed after tonight, and it wasn't like someone was going to march up and say 'Hey – I recognise that bow tie!'

Astrid had been expecting some sort of apology, or at least timidity from him, after his outburst, but none came. He was as normal around her as before.

"C'mon," he said after he'd handed his pinstripe suit over with instructions to parcel it up and leave it on the deck next to the blue box. "Let's go to the ballroom."

They climbed the stairs into a glittering entrance hall for the dining suite and ballroom, with Astrid struggling to keep up again. She wasn't too sure about asking more questions, but she couldn't help the one that finally escaped. "Why the suit? What was wrong with the other one?"

He turned and gave her a gentle smile as they paused on the threshold of the ballroom. "It's the Titanic. It's your last night on earth. We should be able to squeeze in ten minutes of dancing." He adjusted his tie with something approaching embarrassment.

She smiled back. "It's a nice thought," she tilted her head, "but I'm a waitress. People will be expecting me to work."

"That's the nice thing about a psychic dampener – no awkward questions," he said, waggling his eyebrows.

"Aaand," she smiled and glanced to the large decorative display clock in the foyer, "it _will_ only leave us with ten minutes to save the Titanic."

The Doctor gave a boastful grin. "I'm brilliant me. I've saved the whole universe in less time than that."

"You could just apologise for shouting at me," she said.

"I only apologise when there's nothing else I can do," he said seriously. "So are you going to accept my ten minute, dinner and dancing, non-apology?"

Astrid wanted to say yes. It was sweet and kind and everything that no man had ever done for her before. He wanted – needed – to make things right with her. He would do anything she asked.

Preying on that weakness was wrong. But in the same way, she wanted- needed- to know about the voice. She just hoped she wouldn't push him too far.

There was nothing to do but look up at him with large hopeful eyes and take a chance.

"Only if you tell me about Rose."

---

Astrid had never seen the ballroom through a guest's eyes before, but she had to admit that tonight it looked lovely. There was the sound of laughter and pleasant chit chat instead of the usual complaints and gossip (thank you, psychic dampener). The music was light and the couples were waltzing.

The Doctor steered her across the dance floor gracefully, and he had thankfully realised that the way her stomach felt, twirls were not an option.

The voice in her head never faded now, and the warmth from his touch never cooled.

"You're feverish," the Doctor said with some concern.

"I've still got time," she said. "Haven't I?"

"All the time we'll need," he said.

"So…Rose?" she said. The question had been burning on her lips since they'd stepped onto the floor.

"A girl, just like you. She travelled with me," he said. His eyes weren't focused anymore; he was staring into the distance at something no one could see but him.

"Was she important?" she said.

"To what's happening here? No." He smiled tightly and his eyes focused back on Astrid again. He turned them for another circle of the blissful couples who were unknowingly dancing together for the last time.

"I didn't ask if she was important to here," said Astrid softly. "I asked if she was _important_."

"She was," he breathed. "She held the whole universe in her hands once - just for me."

His eyes unfocused again and they continued to drift through their waltz. She was feeling weaker than ever, but the voices and the warmth were keeping her strong.

"What happened?"

"She got trapped somewhere I couldn't go. It's impossible."

Astrid leaned in to whisper to him. "Tonight is all about impossible. The crash was impossible, the Captain was impossible, the beetles were impossible." She gave him a teasing, confidential sort of look. "Maybe there's more possible than you think."

He stopped them, and looked at her properly for what felt like the first time since he'd heard Rose's voice. His whole attention was on her for just those few seconds.

Then he stepped back and said; "Our ten minutes are up."

---

Without the Doctor's arms around her, Astrid felt weaker still. But there were only ten minutes left and she could practically hear those beetles gnawing at the casket.

"Now is it me," said the Doctor, "or are those the first hooded musicians you've ever seen?"

Astrid looked over at the band and saw nothing odd. There were the violinists and flutists and all the usual players that she recognised.

But - she squinted - the trombone player was wearing a hood. So were the trumpeters.

And they were standing up and pointing their instruments in a strange way, almost like weapons. The band and dancers played and danced on obliviously.

"May I suggest," the Doctor began helpfully, "that now might be a good time to RUN!"

He seized Astrid's hand and they sprinted through the couples as the hooded musicians stepped onto the dance floor.

Astrid was being pulled along by the Doctor, but she was looking curiously behind her.

"What's the matter? What are they doing?"

They reached the doorway just as the marching musicians pulled back their hoods to reveal strange tin faces with rosy cheeks like Father Christmas. They held up their instruments and there was a great burst of fire.

Astrid shrieked and the Doctor dragged her through the door and down the stairs.

She was the only one who did, she realised afterward. The other musicians (who, even if they hadn't noticed the tin men and the flaming brass instruments, surely should have realised that half their accompaniment was now missing) hadn't even stopped playing.

"It's the dampener," shouted the Doctor as they sprinted along a corridor that Astrid vaguely recognised as leading to the first class parlours and out onto deck. "It's why no one has even noticed – they'll look around wondering what's going on, but as soon as it's over they'll carry on as normal. Typical humans."

"Will they hurt the people on board?"

"No. Their employer wants then to go after us."

"Who employs them?"

"Whoever is the biggest bully in the playground. Their last two employers met sticky ends." The Doctor winced, but this didn't stop him ushering her round a corner and onwards as the things marched after them.

"At your hands?" she panted. Her legs felt like lead.

"Well…I was there."

They scrambled around (and over, in the Doctors case) the frilly chairs and coffee tables in the parlour to get to glass door leading onto the deck. They ran outside and were nearly knocked off their feet by the sudden rush of wind hitting them.

The Doctor got his bearings faster and was off again. "I need to get inside the TARDIS and-"

He stopped. Astrid followed him to the head and looked around in puzzlement. The blue box was nowhere in sight. The Doctor spun around. "What've they done with it?" he asked, puzzled.

"Doctor…" Astrid held up the parcel she'd found on the ground. It was wrapped in string and was squishy. "This is your suit. They said they'd leave it by the blue box."

"No…no, no, no…" the Doctor looked around again as if waiting for the box to spring out and yell 'surprise!' This failed to occur.

Someone had taken it.

* * *

A/N: I hope you like this. The dancing scene affected me in particular. I was trying not to make it sappy, I really was. It was the Doctor's turn to be a pain this chapter – he got angry and then sappy and confused and he wouldn't even babble! But…yea for the Santas! Wouldn't be a Christmas episode without them.

This fic is dedicated to Steven Moffat, who wrote a very enjoyable Children in Need special and managed to do it without making this fic uncanon (I get another month and a half respite before being AU that way!)

And yes, I realise there are no answers yet. There will be some next chapter, I promise. You've got another three chapters to go yet, don't worry! And it will be Doctor/Rose.

Anyway, thanks for all the reviews – I'd love to hear you comments. (And yes, this is the world's longest author note).


	4. Astrid Counts Down

**Title:** The Stowaway

**Rating:** PG-13

**Spoilers:** "The Stowaway" from the Doctor Who album, general rumours about the episode and series 4, The Parting of Ways, Doomsday. Basically nothing you don't know already or can't discount as untrue.

**Ships:** Ten/Rose

**Summary:** The Doctor crashes into the Titanic in time to find the whole ship under a Mummy's curse, and a waitress with a message about Rose.

**A/N:** Thanks for every great comment so far. It's great hearing all your theories!

* * *

"Who would take the TARDIS?" he demanded from himself. "C'mon think, think, think!"

Astrid hazarded a guess of her own. "What about those tin…men?" she looked behind her nervously. How long did they have before they found them?

"No. They don't have a will of their own. If they took it, they took it for someone."

"So let's find the employer."

The Doctor held up the stick and sighed. "I'm gonna have to do a scan for alien tech." He waved it over the door they'd just come through. The strange monsters were nowhere in sight.

Astrid gaped at him. "You could just hold the stick up and find this creature all the time? Why didn't you do that in the first place instead of looking around?"

The Doctor pulled a face. "Looking's more interesting! Scanning for alien tech is like…finding the answers in the back of the puzzle book. It's like – _ah_."

The whirr the stick was making changed subtly. The Doctor seemed to understand what it meant.

"There are only two living alien life forms on board," he said. He looked around as if expecting one to leap out at him there and then.

Astrid nodded. "That sounds about right."

The Doctor was lost in thought. "But there should be three," he said.

Astrid tried to get this straight in her head. "Three? There's you, this woman…"

"I didn't include myself in the search. There should be i _another /i _three. Think – we've already seen two."

Her head was feeling fuzzy. She couldn't think of anything except the tin men. She shrugged. "The musicians?"

He nodded. "And?"

Astrid looked back at him blankly.

The Doctor pointed to her leg. "One of them bit you…" he prompted.

"The – the Wrecking Beetles?"

"Exactly," he shoved the stick back in a pocket and clapped his hands. "There_'s _nothing else. The Captain's been telling porkies – there _is_ no mysterious Mummy wielding woman on board."

"Maybe she's human?"

"The scan would pick up traces from anyone out of time as well. The only human out of time is Captain Smith – it didn't even pick up that thing in your head which is very interesting. And do you know what else is interesting?"

Astrid shrugged again. "The tin men have disappeared?"

The Doctor waved a hand dismissively. "Nah. They'll have been called off. They were just to make us run about and think something was going on here. Something alien at least. C'mon!"

He sprinted back through the doors and into the warm ship. He couldn't half move! Astrid sighed in exhaustion as she ran after him.

"Where- where are we going?"

"The mailroom," the Doctor called.

"Again? Why?"

"Because while the trace didn't pick up any aliens, it picked up several tons of alien technology currently hiding in the mailroom!"

Astrid grinned. "Your ship!"

"I hope so!"

---

Astrid and the Doctor ran back down the stairs, bumping into several dazed looking staff who were blissfully unable to recognise anything odd going on.

They had five minutes before that casket was going to open. The thought of being eaten by bugs was enough for Astrid to push aside the exhaustion and sickness long enough to keep up.

The Doctor dived back in amongst the mailbags and boxes, but after a thorough search they had to concede that no large blue boxes were hidden here.

"Maybe the scan picked up that thing," swallowed Astrid with a nervous look at the crated sarcophagus. Was it her imagination or did it move slightly?

The Doctor shook his head. "It wasn't that. It was something else. Something big."

He looked around again, and inspired smile creeping onto his face. "Either that…or lots of little things!"

He picked up a string-tied parcel and held it to his ear, giving it a good shake. There was thankfully no jangle of broken glass. Then he chucked it to her with a gleeful instruction to dig in. He himself chose a big one and tore into it.

"These are people's packages and letters!" she snapped. "You can't open them!"

"I don't think anyone's going to care after tonight," said the Doctor. He threw the paper over his head like a little boy at Christmas.

The Doctor had clearly gone mad. There were four minutes left before everyone on board was eaten alive and he was opening parcels. Astrid watched him nervously.

The gleeful look disappeared as he held up the item that had been inside the package.

It was a dangerous looking weapon – bright silver, flashing lights. Astrid hadn't seen the future, but she could imagine tall, hairy monsters shooting weapons like that.

"Is it a gun?" she asked.

"It's a toy," he croaked. "Top of every kid's letter to Father Christmas circa 5008."

"How did it get in there?" she breathed.

"I'm getting an idea. Open yours."

Astrid looked down at her own forgotten parcel. She opened it with considerably more care. The thing inside was wrapped in cloth.

"Urgh!"

She dropped it and stepped back. Inside was a leathery…monkey. It was tiny, but solid, and it felt clammy to the touch.

"Please tell me that's a toy," said Astrid, who massaged her chest to calm herself.

The Doctor no longer looked sad. He looked angry.

"No. It's an alien – a dead one. They are an intelligent species too – if a little too big for their boots. It must have been one of the tourists."

"Tourists?"

The Doctor reached down into the remains of the package and pulled out a tiny square tube hanging down from a chain around the alien's neck. "It had a camera around its neck," he said.

He suddenly exploded with anger – not at her this time, but seemingly at an unjust universe. "It had a i _camera /i _! It was innocent – they were all innocent!"

He ripped open a larger square crate and an appalling rotting smell filled the air. Inside was a shaggy haired creature, squashed up and long dead. Another had a human skeleton, surrounded by strange technology. More and more were opened. The owner of the toy gun, a dead human boy with red curls, was found locked in stasis in a medium box.

Astrid clapped her hand to her mouth and stood their shaking. Who could have done all this and hidden them so cruelly?

"He told me that he'd sent them home!" the Doctor yelled. "But he didn't, he killed them and hid them where no one would ever find them!"

"Who?" wailed Astrid.

"Captain Smith!" roared the Doctor. "Never trust a Time Agent Astrid, they're just conmen with a uniform."

He seemed to check himself here.

"Of course, on some of them the conning thing could be seen as an endearing quirk," he added hastily. "But that was a unique situation! The rest – don't get even me started!"

Astrid didn't feel like pointing out that Doctor was so far from the starting mark that he must be nearing the finish by now.

"Why would Captain Smith do that?" she asked timidly. Her body was shaking with chills and even the voice in her head seemed meek after the Doctor's rage.

"It all makes sense now!" the Doctor explained. "Don't you see?"

"Um…no?"

"Remember when he told me about what he did? I said there was no way he could remove the multiples? If he lived this night over and over there should be hundreds of him running around. But there's just one! Oh it all makes sense now!"

Astrid didn't understand, but she felt that something more pressing was about to occur.

"Doctor?"

"Hmm?"

"There's only a minute left."

"Hmm?"

She turned to stare at the trembling crate with the beetle filled sarcophagus inside.

"Please tell by that you can deactivate the timer?" she asked.

"The mechanism's protected by the one of most difficult systems created," explained the Doctor.

"What system?" Astrid demanded.

The Doctor looked sheepish and rubbed the back of his neck. "Security questions," he grimaced. "If I try and get into it, it'll start demanding to know the name of the bomber's first pet and his mother's maiden name."

Astrid back away as the crate shook more violently, stumbling around the monkey-like corpse on the floor. "What do we do?"

"Well," said the Doctor, "I suggest…" he trailed off.

"I suggest…"

The lock clicked.

"RUN!" he bellowed.

They turned and sprinted towards the door, Astrid needed no encouragement to keep up this time.

She cleared the door just in time to see hundreds of beetles swarming out across the floor.

* * *

**N/A:** That was a short one. There was no other way to split it, you see.

Hope you are enjoyed (and are still intrigued). The fic is complete, I finished it last night. You will get your answers in the next three chapters, I promise – anyway, it would be pretty boring if I told you too early, right?


	5. Astrid on the Run

**Title:** The Stowaway

**Rating:** PG-13

**Spoilers:** "The Stowaway" from the Doctor Who album, general rumours about the episode and series 4, The Parting of Ways, Doomsday. Basically nothing you don't know already or can't discount as untrue.

**Ships:** Ten/Rose

**Summary:** The Doctor crashes into the Titanic in time to find the whole ship under a Mummy's curse, and a waitress with a message about Rose.

* * *

"What are we going to _do_?" Astrid wailed. 

She and the Doctor reached the stairs and sprinted up them. They seized one of the workmen coming down towards them by the armpits and pushed him back upstairs.

"Come for a walk with us!" said the Doctor in a cheery brittle voice. "Right now!"

Astrid could hear the beetles scurrying behind them. The sound made her want to leap on the chair and scream for help. Of course, the only realistic way was to follow the Doctor, who seemed to be bizarrely enjoying himself.

"Telling these people to run for their lives won't work!" he called across to her. "The dampener will just tell them to reject the idea of anything bad happening. We need to get everyone into the ballroom — everyone on board!"

Did he have any idea how many people that was?

They closed the door to the stairwell after them. This would give them about three minutes — apparently the beetles would claw through to get to the meat. But at least it slowed them down.

There were several groups of people walking through the corridor. The Doctor stood on a chair against the wall and called to them.

"Oi! Oi! Look at me! Me! Tall man in a tuxedo over here!"

He finally got the attention of the dazed group. Would they even understand the danger if the Doctor explained it?

"I'm here to announce that the Captain has laid on a little light entertainment in the ballroom," said the Doctor in a posh and slightly pompous voice. "Can you and your families make your way there in an orderly fashion please. And pass it on. Everyone on board needs to be there."

The people smiled amongst themselves and went off to pass on the good word, with talk of _'what a nice man the Captain was, and wasn't that man standing on the chair very charming?'_

The Doctor hopped off again and began waving the stick at the door keeping the beetles at bay. "Let's make this a little bit of hard work for creepy-crawly friends, shall we?" he said.

Whatever the buzzing did, the scrabbling became fainter, as if the door had suddenly become a lot tougher.

"I thought the 'orderly fashion' was a nice touch," he said conversationally. "No matter how dampened your psychic field is, something about having to do something in an 'orderly fashion' brings out the shover in us all."

Astrid raised her eyebrow.

He pocketed the stick and grinned. He was talking a mile a minute again. "Now because I'm very clever, I've just worked out where the TARDIS is, and I need to get something from it. You're a waitress — I've got an order to make."

"I'm guessing it's not going to be on the menu," Astrid smiled. She willed her adrenalin to stay pumping as strongly as it was. She couldn't let him down now.

"I need a plate of chicken," he said seriously. "And a Pilotfish. And I need them waiting for me in the foyer outside the Ballroom in three minutes. I want the chicken roasted and the Pilotfish raw-" he winked, "I'll be frying it myself."

He turned and sprinted down the corridor away from her, stopped, and then ran back. He grabbed her wrist looked at her apologetically. "And I'm sorry. I know the illness gets worse when I'm not nearby. But we haven't got time to stay together, and hopefully this will make it better."

He kissed her. It was light and not very romantic. She didn't melt into him like a great romantic novel would have her do. He didn't look particularly affected when he pulled away. It was just a kiss, administered like medicine, by her very own Doctor.

In fact, her mind was still on the tin Pilotfish men. "How am I supposed-" she began, but it was too late. The Doctor was already sprinting in the opposite direction.

---

The ballroom was full of people by the time Astrid fought her way through the crowds. It was hot and she tried not to sway.

People were talking excitedly all around — _what was the entertainment going to be? Everyone on board had to be there, they said!_ Poor and rich were standing together united by the peaceful signals affecting their minds.

The first item on the list was easy. A plate of uneaten roast chicken and potatoes was plucked from the hands of another waitress as the girl tidied up from dinner. The Doctor hadn't specified potatoes, and she wanted to get things right, so she hid them in a pot plant and tipped as much gravy off as she could.

The Pilotfish weren't going to be as simple. She ran over to the band area where they were playing another waltz. The trumpeters didn't even register her.

"Hey!" she shouted. "You know that skinny man called the Doctor? I know where he is!"

The crowd around her started gossiping again. _Was this Doctor person the entertainment then? _Astrid ignored them — she had the full attention of the Pilotfish now.

"So why don't you come with me and — and — I don't know — set him on fire?"

The musicians stood. No one noticed.

Astrid held her plate of chicken out in front of her in an effort to part the crowds and ran for the door. The tin men marched after her.

The foyer was practically empty now, the Doctor couldn't have arrived yet.

She raced out with the tin men on her trail. There was a sudden clanking and she spun.

The tin men had collapsed onto the ground and the Doctor stood over them, stick buzzing away. Next to him stood the TARDIS. He grinned at her like a proud father.

"Astrid, you are a _legend_! Chicken and no less than four Pilotfish. You're definitely not one of these people that forget the bread when you go shopping, and come back with five packets of biscuits and some cream cheese instead."

He took the plate and chucked the chicken over one of the still Pilotfish.

"Are they dead?" she swallowed.

"Nah. They weren't alive. They're just machines. I just used the Sonic Screwdriver to take them offline."

Sonic Screwdriver! She finally had a name for the stick. It felt wonderful — like he'd let her into a secret club.

"And the chicken?" she asked.

"All in good time!" he announced. "Back in a sec."

He ran inside the TARDIS and then reappeared with a strange device. It was attached to a wire that he pulled out after him and it looked like a sort of pronged hat that attached itself to the temples.

"'S called a Chameleon Arch," he explained. "Don't like using it but we don't have a choice."

He attached it to the head of the Pilotfish that was covered in chicken. Then he disappeared inside the TARDIS again. There was crackling sound and the Pilotfish started the shake.

"Don't touch it!" the Doctor instructed. "Believe me you will not like what I've set it to do!"

Astrid backed away warily.

The Doctor rubbed his hands together. "Now all we need to do now is create some in-flight entertainment and it's, metaphorically, plain sailing from there on."

He grabbed her hand, skirted around the Pilotfish, and pulled her into the Ballroom again.

The news must have spread like wildfire because it really looked like everyone who could physically have gotten in was there. The Doctor pushed his way through towards a large table, which he hopped up onto to address the room.

"Oi!" he yelled. "Look over here. At me! That's right. Yoo-hoo! _Blimey_, it's like the January sales in here!"

Eventually the rumbling over voices faded away into silence. "I'm your entertainer for tonight," he announced. "Think of me as a Redcoat but instead of regaling you with some golden-oldies, we're going to learn a new dance!"

He had to have lost his mind. This strange man seemed to have all the answers and yet he had draped a machine with chicken and was about to teach a brand new dance to a group of people about to be eaten by bugs.

"It's very simple," he instructed. "It's called the Starfish. You jump like this-" he jumped and stood legs apart and arms splayed, "-and then you jump like this-" he jumped and brought his arms and legs back together. "Very easy. Music please."

The band started an enthusiastic rhythm that seemed to have neither regular beat nor starfish element, but the Doctor did his funny dance to it anyway. "All together everyone!" he ordered.

If the Captain had ordered them himself, he wouldn't have got a better response than the Doctor did. Every single person joined in enthusiastically — largely bashing each other in the tiny space and not even caring.

The Doctor kept encouraging them, pointing out particularly enthusiastic people and telling others off for not jumping hard enough.

"You too Astrid!" he shouted over the din. He was jumping up and down like a loon. "It'll save us all!"

Utterly mortified at such a bizarre request, she joined in.

The doors were still open, she noticed. How long did they have before the beetles closed in? Was the Doctor trying to teach them to fly?

She stared out at the foyer, still jumping and trying to avoid being bashed by a large older woman who was clearly hoping to receive a warm word from the Doctor.

And the Astrid saw the beetles. They must have got through the stairwell door by now. And they were moving so quickly! She wouldn't be able to get the doors shut in time. What was the Doctor _doing_?!

She dropped her tired arms down to her side and watched, terrified, as they swarmed towards her. She was nearest the door. She would be the first one to get eaten.

Thousands of them…all biting her at the same time, like the one on the back of her leg.

And the voice — it had abandoned her. She couldn't hear the whispers over the music and stomping and shouting…

The beetles swarmed over the Pilotfish. They were headed right for her.

And then suddenly there was blue light and a frying sound. She screwed her eyes shut, put her hands over her ears, and waited for it all to be over.

---

"C'mon, I've got you."

Astrid felt a warm hand on her head. She was sitting somewhere soft and quiet.

Her eyes fluttered open and The Doctor was the first thing she saw. He was sitting in an armchair in the Captain's study. She was sat in the same one as before.

Had it all been a dream?

"Am I alive?" she croaked.

The Doctor looked regretful. "For now."

She tried to sit up straight, but this only made the room spin more. "One hour," he breathed. "That's all you've got. I hard a hard time waking you up at all."

"What happened?"

"You passed out," he explained.

She gripped the table and succeeded in pulling herself up straight this time. "The beetles? Are they dead?"

"No," he said.

She gasped. "What? But-"

"But I removed their desire to eat humans," he said. "The Chameleon Arch alters every cell in the body- so I set it to a normal beetle. I couldn't attach it to every single one of them so I used the Pilotfish as a conductor. When they swarmed over it to eat the chicken, they became part of the circuit and it altered their DNA."

"And the dancing?"

"They are attracted to vibration. I needed them all to reach the same spot at the same time. Although now I've had a go I might think about releasing some sort of fitness video."

Astrid had no words for an answer, although she wanted to say something about the century appropriateness.

"Why are we here?" she rasped eventually.

"Need to have a word with the good Captain," he said leisurely. He leant back in his chair. "Got to have a little chat with him about why I found the TARDIS in his study."

* * *

**A/N:** The good news is that from here on in there be answers…  
The bad news is that if I'm doing my job right, you might need a tissue.

And before anyone gets excited about the Doctor/Astrid kiss, this is a Doctor/Astrid friendship fic. Ten/Rose all the way.

Thanks for all the great comments! Let me know what you think... it would mean a lot to a to a girl like me.


	6. Astrid Sails Away

**Title:** The Stowaway

**Rating:** PG-13

**Spoilers:** "The Stowaway" from the Doctor Who album, general rumours about the episode and series 4, The Parting of Ways, Doomsday. Basically nothing you don't know already or can't discount as untrue.

**Ships:** Ten/Rose

**Summary:** The Doctor crashes into the Titanic in time to find the whole ship under a Mummy's curse, and a waitress with a message about Rose.

**A/N**: Thanks for all the truly lovely reviews!

* * *

"Hallo there Captain!" beamed the Doctor as the Captain rushed inside.

If the Captain was surprised to see the Doctor sitting in the armchair in the same position as before, he hid it very well.

"Doctor," he said. "Has all gone well with your investigation? I heard rumours of some sort of entertainment…"

The Doctor nodded. "Oh yes. All sorted out now. No deaths until later tonight, just as history designed."

The Captain smiled, although on closer inspection it was somewhat strained. "Capital, well then-"

"Which I expect," said the Doctor, "must be really getting your goat right now."

The Captain's face froze. "I beg your pardon?" he thundered.

The Doctor grinned irritatingly up at him. "I totally understand. You plan to destroy everyone on board and escape this ship. And then a top notch time machine lands in your lap with its doors conveniently blown wide open. And after you've gone to the trouble of stealing it, you step out to see what this entertainment rumour is about, and when you get back the time machine is gone, everyone is alive, and its owner is sitting in your armchair, riffling through your paperwork."

He tilted his head with a grimace. "Well — I'm not going through it now, obviously. I did that before you came in."

The Captain was practically mauve with anger, and his loud voice was put to great use when he next spoke. "I'll have you thrown off this ship! How dare you sit there and accuse me of — of this lunacy! The maid will go back to her quarters, and _you_ will leave at once!"

The Doctor looked unconcerned at this. "Love that bossy voice," he said like a connoisseur. "Like I say — mine could do with work. Then again, I'm blessed with an ability to ignore orders, while you Captain are trained to follow 'em."

The Doctor stood and faced the standing Captain off. "So I suggest you SIT DOWN."

The Captain sat.

The Doctor sat down again and smiled around genially at the table.

"Now," he said, "I was just having a chat about time with my mate Astrid here. You said that you live this day on repeat — right from dawn up until the ship sinks. Normally that would mean that there would be hundreds of you running around. But somehow the Time Agency has found a way to keep the days repeating while having only one of you exist. You are a hamster in a ball — the day rolls around you while you continue living in a linear timeline."

The Doctor fixed the Captain with an apologetic expression. "But it's all gone wrong hasn't it? You're not just living this day on repeat — you're stuck here. No way out."

The Doctor glanced apologetically to Astrid. "Nothing for this — can't avoid such an appropriate non-century-appropriate analogy. You're living Groundhog Day."

The Captain inclined his head. "Close enough. It was the first time we had tested the theory out. I was the head scientist."

"Of course — the problem was that the only way you could keep the day on repeat was by keeping it on repeat for everyone. Everyone on this ship should have been aware of the repeats too — am I right? And _that's_ what the psychic dampener was for!"

The Captain remained stoical. "I told you — whatever that thing was only appeared tonight."

"Don't lie!" said the Doctor gleefully. "You built it. You planned it. It was the only way to stop the people realising that they were living the day on repeat! You dressed it up to look like a Mummy so that no one would go to near it in case they got struck down by a curse, and it's sat there all that time taking away their memories and suspicions."

Astrid frowned. "But you said that it wouldn't affect me unless I was close to it and I don't remember any repeating."

The Doctor grinned at the Captain while speaking to her. "You're right there. But the Captain did actually tell us a bit of truth. There was a woman on board who was official and yet had never been seen before. It was you. You appeared this morning from nowhere."  
He looked at her like she was a puppy that had done an especially clever trick.

"But I've been on board since the start!" Astrid insisted. It wasn't a lie. She had got the job — she'd worked every day. She knew all the staff.

"Yes you have. But that thing inside your head has a limited lifespan and is outside time. For some reason it needs me and it couldn't afford to relive the repeats until I arrived during one. So it gets you on board, gets a signal out to the TARDIS, and then drops you into the right repeat — the one I arrive in."

The Doctor turned to eyeball the Captain once more. "What you don't know, Astrid, is that the Captain has been planning my arrival too. Haven't you Captain?"

The Captain shrugged. "There is no shame in admitting that I used the psychic dampener to send out a distress call to passing time travellers. I do not want to be stuck here eternally."

"Lying again!" said the Doctor. "Shameful! You know as well as I do that any time traveller who arrives on this ship is as stranded as you are. And they _did_ arrive didn't they? Hundreds of them. Of course — you can't have them crowding up the ship, so you kill them. Hide them. They're out of time as well, so they don't disappear. You slaughtered them and harvested their technology."

"And what did I do with this technology?" said the Captain archly.

"You came up with a plan," the Doctor announced. "A way out — not a perfect one, but by this point anything's worth a try. You found the Wrecking Beetles, used the technology to turn them into carnivores. Built them into a bomb that could be activated as soon as the next time traveller arrived. You even took control of the Pilotfish to do your bidding."

"This is ridiculous," the Captain scoffed. "How would any of that get me off this ship?"

"Easy — you send out a distress call for a ship. You aren't to know that something else has latched onto it and is calling my name out into the universe. When I arrive you send me off on a merry chase — '_boo-hoo, there's something strange happening on board_' and while we're distracted by the Mummy and the Pilotfish, you plan to steal the ship and detonate the bomb. Of course, it would cause a paradox — a massive one — because everyone on board would die long before they hit that iceberg. A paradox big enough to break the endless cycle of repeated days, and you would just ride it out in my ship."

He couldn't resist a smug addition of; "You know, I'd have _loved_ to have seen your face when you actually tried to fly her."

"You think I'd risk destroying the universe for that?" said the Captain, ignoring the last remark.

The Doctor shrugged. "How many repeats have you lived through? Hundreds? _Thousands_? Anything's got to be worth it after hearing the screams and terror over and over and over. Besides - your Time Agency mates will be waiting on the other side to fix the paradox before is becomes a blip on the universe's radar. You get out, and all it costs you is the life of everyone on board and hundreds of innocent aliens and time travellers."

By the time he'd finished his expression was truly stormy. The Captain didn't even look apologetic.

"You have no idea what I've lived through," he said calmly.

"Yes," said the Doctor coldly. "I do. And there are a thousand better ways out than the one you chose."

He stood up and adjusted his coat. "C'mon Astrid. You've got fifty-five minutes. Let's not waste them here."

"There's nowhere to go Doctor!" the Captain taunted. "You're here now. You're damned like everyone on board. There is nothing left but the endless repeat of days. Let's see how you feel about my plan after a hundred years of the same day."

The Doctor's expression didn't even change. "I told you — my people wrote the manual on time travel. I'm going back to my ship, I may or may not have a cup of tea, and then I'll sort things out with Astrid here. And while I do all that I might devote, oh, about two seconds of my time to pushing a little blue button on the console that will set time back to linear. Bye!"

Astrid turned with him again, feeling a glow of pleasure now that his hand was holding hers.

"Wait!" the Captain called after them.

They turned again. The Captain stood, pale faced and unsure for the first time Astrid had ever seen. He took his hat off and held it formally to his chest.

"What about me?" he asked.

The Doctor gave him a look that sped past disgust and into somewhere far darker. It was as close to an avenging angel as Astrid thought she would ever see.

"Captain Smith goes down with his ship," said the Doctor.

---

It was quite amazing how the Doctor's personality switched about so rapidly. He was all charm and ease by the time they were back on deck where the Doctor had parked the TARDIS again.

He picked up the slightly damp parcel containing his suit and looked the boat over. Then he opened the newly repaired door and stood on the threshold. The light coming from the windows behind her made his face glow in the dark and his eyes twinkled.

"Come with me," he said.

Astrid smiled faintly. "I already told you, Doctor, you can't take my death away from me."

He reached up and took her chin between his thumb and forefinger, tilting her face up towards his.

"Come with me," he breathed. "Your last fifty minutes. Anywhere in the universe."

Astrid looked at the people on deck, still blissfully unaware of the disaster that nearly had, and still would, strike. "And what will happen to them?"

The Doctor looked truly sorry. "I can't stop it. I've left the psychic dampener on…it'll lessen the pain and the fear. It's the only gift I can give them."

"What will you do when I…?" she trailed off. "The — the body?"

"Anything you ask," he promised.

"America," she said with a bittersweet smile. "I'd like to know that I made it."

He looked back through the doors of his ship. "I could take you there now…" the Doctor offered.

She leaned her head against the newly repaired blue doorframe. She felt unutterably tired. "I don't think I'd appreciate it fully."

"Will you at least come inside the TARDIS?" he asked.

Astrid peeked cautiously through the door, glimpsing the console.

"It's bigger on the inside," he pointed out.

"I thought it might be," she said conspiratorially.

She turned and looked back at the deck. Couples walked together, children skipped along in front of them. Girls giggled together and old ladies peered up at the stars…it was a perfect moment.

Whatever happened to her now, she would never see the iceberg hit this majestic ship. She need never know which of those giggling girls lived or died. For a few precious hours they would be truly happy, and when the worst hit, the Doctor's final gift to them would at least ease their pain.

She smiled out at the deck, and then looked at the blue box. It was a tiny speck on this great ship's surface, yet it felt a thousand times more powerful and more majestic than the Titanic could ever have been. It felt like home.

The Doctor moved out of the doorway and Astrid tiptoed across the threshold. She was trembling and she could feel sweat on her forehead, but the intelligible voice was stronger than ever and…relieved. It merged with the humming sound the Doctor's ship made.

"Is there anywhere you want to go?" asked the Doctor. He closed the door behind him and stopped to run a hand across the walls as if checking for traces of the damage his ship had entailed.

Astrid shook her head. "Here is…perfect," she said.

He walked over to the main tower in the centre of the room and began pulling levers. The light in the centre moved up and down. He pushed several buttons — maybe even the blue one he'd been talking about.

"I'm just getting us off the boat," he explained. Then he seemed to realise that she was just standing there. "There are other rooms…you don't have to stay in here."

Astrid shook her head. She didn't want to leave him. Instead she sat primly in the chair and watched him work for a while. He moved like someone was timing him, and she wondered how long it would take to be able to learn what every bit did and use it so confidently. Longer than she'd lived, for sure.

When the ship settled down, he grabbed a black instrument from a set of other odd looking tools, and hunkered down to scrutinise her through it.

"Odd, odd, odd…" he muttered. "It's familiar. But how did you come into contact with it?" The Doctor sat back on his heels. "I'll have to have a look inside your head. It's not strong enough to communicate — I need to channel it."

Astrid didn't want that at all, what if he rummaged around inside her mind and stole it from her? "Promise me you won't take it away?" she asked in a tiny voice.

The pause was long before he spoke. "I promise," he said.

Astrid looked balefully at him and then nodded. "Do it then."

The doctor's expression remained stony, but the faraway look from the dance returned for the smallest second. He stood sharply, restlessly, and began to fiddle with the console. "Not yet. If I give that thing a voice it'll burn you up faster. I promised you fifty minutes." He poked and prodded and pumped, and when there wasn't a button or handle left that he hadn't fiddled with, came over and sat beside her.

The Doctor leaned back and sat with his legs stretched out an ankles crossed, just as he'd done in the Captain's armchair back when she'd first met him — had it really been just two hours before? After a while she inched closer and he dropped an arm around her shoulder. She tucked her legs up on the seat and leaned into him. Together they sat taking in every inch of the room.

"I thought I'd have questions," she whispered as the minutes drained away. Talking took effort now. "But everything feels…right."

The Doctor pulled them both up straight and gripped her shoulders. He had to take most of her weight to keep her from slumping forwards. "_Please_," he said emotionally. "Please let me save you — let me try."

She smiled and prodded his chest gently. "Thought you'd get me while my defences are down, huh?"

Astrid leaned forward until she rested on his lap and turned to look up at him. "I think now's your last chance to look inside my head," she said faintly.

"There's a minute left," he murmured. "One minute that's yours and yours alone."

She looked up at him. "Then tell me…about Rose."

She watched the faraway expression return appear as he talked. Astrid let the two voices wash over her, until eventually she could only hear the one in her head.

**A/N**: One more chapter to go. In it, all the questions will finally be answered…

* * *

Hopefully this chapter worked and wasn't too confusing (at the beginning), or too sappy (at the end). I was aiming for an emotional impact. And hopefully you liked Astrid enough to be a little bit sad.

Let me know your thoughts about the chapter/story!


	7. The Doctor Gets a Gift

**Title**: The Stowaway  
**Summary**: The Doctor crashes into the Titanic in time to find the whole ship under a Mummy's curse, and a waitress with a message about Rose. An alternate version of Voyage of the Damned.  
**Ships**: Doctor/Rose. And the Titanic - that's a fairly big ship, obviously.  
**Rating**: PG-13  
**Disclaimer**: All belongs to the BBC. Salutes and sings the National Anthem  
**Status**: Complete

* * *

Astrid was dead.

The thing inside her had stolen years of a life that it had had no right to. And what for? To trick him with a stolen voice?

It was still in there, hidden in the dying flesh. There was no human body for it to jump into. It would steal the last of the heat from Astrid and then it would die.

Only first he was going to make it very, very sorry.

Astrid lay on his lap. He could feel it burning inside of her, harvesting the last heat her body had left. He took her head in his hands, and leaned his own head over hers. The thing stirred at his mental presence.

"Talk," ordered the Doctor.

Astrid's body jolted. The Doctor had seen too much death to hope that she had miraculously recovered.

The thing gasped as though it was not used to controlling a body. Astrid was no more alive than the corpses in that morgue in Cardiff all those years ago.

"Doctor…my Doctor."

It was Rose's voice, as young and innocent and as he remembered it ever being.

"You've stolen that voice," he snarled. "What are you?"

"You know who I am," the voice accused.

Astrid's eyes snapped open. They glowed up at him with all the power in the universe.

"That's impossible," he stated. "I put you back! I died!"

He clutched at the body, peering into the eyes as if searching for the answers.

"You put back the Time Vortex. I am…the Bad Wolf. I was not yours to take."

The voice was more distant now, as though it was rapidly using up Astrid's last energy.

"I was lived in the heart of your ship. Rose Tyler absorbed one tiny, tiny piece of it forever. She and the TARDIS both share a…mutual interest. A part of them that would do anything to save you. Anything at all. I am the part of TARDIS that lives for you and I found a home in Rose…"

"And Astrid?"

"I could not…follow Rose into the other universe. Just as the TARDIS could not. I could only travel to the places Rose had gone. I was weak and had nowhere to go – so I found the rift. Your second journey. But I could only survive inside a body… I was forced to hide inside people, passing from one to another. I waited years before someone – Astrid - stumbled across something with alien technology…"

"But you kill them," the Doctor snarled. "You let them die!"

"The deaths were not wanted," said the Bad Wolf. "I kept each one alive for as long as I could…at great expense to my own power. I had no choice. All I can do is talk to them and lead them into it willingly and without fear."

"It was you – you stopped Astrid from letting me help her! Why? What can her death have achieved for you?" he demanded. He gripped Astrid more tightly.

There was a sound like a sigh. "You do not understand. You could not have saved her by removing me. The bodies are doomed the second I enter them. She would have died anyway and you would have only given her false hope. Astrid would have gone into the darkness alone and afraid without me."

The Doctor was angry – incandescent with rage at this creature – how could something created by Rose's love for him do such evil?

"Why burn these people up? What can be that important?"

There was a sigh again, like a schoolteacher whose student has failed to grasp something after the tenth attempt at explanation. The Doctor had never claimed to truly understand the universe – but it was disconcerting to have bits of it sighing at him for not getting it.

"I did not want to. I live for as long as Rose Tyler exists in her universe, but I cannot die before she does. Hitching a ride in these bodies isn't a choice – it's a fact of my existence. And I needed to find you..."

"Is that why you used the psychic dampener as a signal? You used Rose's voice to call to the TARDIS?"

"This is my voice. The only voice I have ever known. I called to the TARDIS and used what little energy I had to pull her to me."

"The crash – you did that?"

"I…apologise. I did not intend the damage. I have a message…"

The body was colder now. The Bad Wolf didn't have long.

"What message? What have you done so much to find me for?" he asked.

The golden eyes drifted shut. "You must return Rose Tyler to this universe."

That was all? This thing thought it was that simple? It had searched so long for him only to ask for the impossible?

"I can't-"

"You _must_. I can only live while Rose lives. I will not even be able to return into the TARDIS. I am too…human."

"How will you know when she dies?" the Doctor asked, although he certainly didn't want to know.

"I cannot reach Rose, but I sense her. In your timeline she will die in one year – on Christmas day."

The Doctor clutched at Astrid. "No. Rose lives. Rose i has /i to live," he shouted. His voice was thick. "That was the only – that was the thing that kept me-"

"I would have kept her alive for you," the Bad Wolf whispered.

The Doctor frowned, and when he spoke his voice shook. "How? You burned up all the others…"

"Their bodies rejected me like a…a transfusion gone wrong. Rose is the body I was created for. I could have given her hundreds of years…all so that she could share them with you."

The Doctor shook his head. This was too much. This was taking away a gift he had never known he had, and knowing made it all the worse. "Stop it!"

"I'm fading…" the Bad Wolf whispered. "The TARDIS will keep me in stasis until Rose returns. I will not cause another death."

The Doctor clutched at Astrid's face. "If I find her, if I do the impossible…" He couldn't finish the question. It was too big a concept to put into one sentence – even for him.

"Then you will never have to watch her wither and die. A gift…for my Doctor."

And then the light was gone. It poured into the air and faded, no doubt hidden away by the TARDIS. The cold body of Astrid lay on his lap.

He would never have been able to save her.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor whispered. "I'm so very sorry."

He sat for a long time, not moving, not doing anything. He was taking it in, digesting it, and although he had no concrete plan, long forgotten cogs in his brain were whirring.

One year to find Rose. To do the impossible. Of course there were different levels of impossibility. Some of them were just 'unlikely' dressed up in fancy clothes. But breaking into the other universe…that was impossible with a capital 'I'. It was so impossible that the word 'possible' shouldn't even be allowed near it. It was, quite simply, 'Im'.

But what a gift it would be - not just getting Rose back for a few decades, but getting Rose back and never having to say goodbye. It was a prize so wonderful that he felt sick even thinking about failing.

After a while he stood and gently laid the body back on the chair. Astrid looked as if she were merely sleeping. He wished that she could have learned the secret in her head without having it kill her. He wished he could have shown her the universe. She'd deserved so much more than just being the Bad Wolf's messenger.

He set the co-ordinates for New York. He had a promise to fulfil.

And then…well…there was a gift he wanted for next Christmas.

_I think of him now and again  
I wonder how his journey ends  
As I sail by on my lonesome sea  
That stranger with the haunting face  
Here then gone without a trace  
Lying with his love, that's where he'll be._

**The End **

**A/N**: It was an image of this final scene in my head that sparked the whole fic off. This story got a bit bigger than planned – I originally only envisioned two chapters. Oops.

So that's it. I wanted it to be a reunion fic without it actually_ being_ a reunion fic. A slightly bittersweet message of hope and love (as befits a Christmas story) and not too sappy. I also wanted the story to be close enough to what we know about the episode and the song as I could make it. So if it fit one or all of the above do let me know!

I would love to honestly know what you thought about any or all of it.


End file.
